Educational Technology Debate Posts & Comments

Nicola Ferralis - eLearning's Promise: Will New Models Scale to Educate Youth?

Nicola Ferralis — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:04:27 -0800

Robyn, those already exists, at least at college level: http://ocw.mit.edu/ http://www.youtube.com/user/UCBerkeley But that's only one side of the story. What about course assessment, homework, in other words creative and dynamic content? I think the opportunity is more for a new approach in using the technology dynamically, rather than simply using a new medium for a very traditional lecture-style teaching...

Robyn Fisher - eLearning's Promise: Will New Models Scale to Educate Youth?

Robyn Fisher — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:45:50 -0800

What about providing developing countries with access to relevant iTunesU-type classroom lectures from reputable schools/universities? They could be packaged courses, provided on mobile devices, or projected for an entire room. Problem is downloading/streaming video content. But I love the possibility of providing access to Harvard-quality lectures to those who can't afford it. These lectures could eventually be connected to ebooks, student community, and online testing/certification.

Nicola Ferralis - eLearning's Promise: Will New Models Scale to Educate Youth?

Nicola Ferralis — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:41:31 -0800

I guess a related question is: who will create such content? WIll the telecom be involved in the process? As software in cellphones is becoming more and more controlled and sometimes policed by the manufacturer (see the iPhone) one has to wonder how much freedom will be granted to an application that delivers "questionable content". In sum, while internet experienced from a desktop/laptop is essentially free (as in speech), I doubt the same could be said for a cellphone.

Wayan - eLearning's Promise: Will New Models Scale to Educate Youth?

Wayan — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:57:44 -0800

I'm wondering if mobile phones can play a role in expanding eLearning? I can envision a commuter downloading video lessons on their phone to watch while their on the bus or matatu between work and home. I've seen a thriving DVD movie to phone burning business in Nigeria, so the demand for engaging video content on mobile phones is there. The real question is content - what content will people pay enough for to support the content creator. English lessons would be the most obvious. Maybe give away the lessons but charge to take the tests/get "certified" by the organization? What do you think?

Caroline Meeks - What We Really Need for Students with Disabilities

Caroline Meeks — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:37:09 -0800

"Here in Afghanistan, a self-instructional sign language application running on the OLPC or other hardware is envisioned that will support parents, children and teachers to learn to communicate with each other." This is a great idea Mike. I heard a similar proposal for Nicaragua from the group from Harvard that went down with to a deaf school in Jan. http://hellolaptop.org/nicaragua.html I know Kevin who works in Gauladette's IT is also interested. Maybe there is a way to pool resources to create an infrastructure that could be localized.

eLearning’s Promise: Will New Models Scale to Educate Youth?

wayan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:06:50 -0800

Young people make up 18 percent of the world’s population today, or 1.2 billion in absolute terms. Of these 15-24 year-olds, 87% live in developing countries. At the same time, their basic educational needs are not being met. More than one-third of all youth around the world are not in the classroom – 73% of youth in sub-Saharan Africa and 51% in South and West Asia.

Yet developing world governments cannot expand traditional educational facilitates to these youth or the even larger cohort behind them. Demand for higher education in Asia and Africa will grow from 48 million enrollments in 1990 to 159 million enrollments in 2025, but India spent only 3.2% of GDP in 2005 on education, ranking it 140th of 180 countries tracked by the CIA World Factbook.

Look at that eLearning idea

The inability of developing countries to meet the demand for quality secondary and higher education has a direct impact on economic growth. Researchers at Harvard University estimate that a one-year increase in tertiary education stock would raise the long-run steady-state level of African GDP per capita by 12.2%.

So improving access to education is one of the best investments that donor agencies and governments can make. Now what if it were possible to nearly double the number of secondary and university seats in a developing country overnight and with relatively little investment from the public sector?

eLearning – the provision of educational opportunities via information and communication technologies – could have that kind of scale with recent advances in electronic content creation and the proliferation of technology devices.

In this month’s Educational Technology Debate, we’ll focus on three main questions eLearning models bring forth:

What do these new eLearning pedagogical models look like?

How can new business models make eLearning services affordable?

Who will validate or accredit eLearning programs?

Join us for this conversation by submitting a Guest Post with your ideas around eLearning’s promise. We seek articles of at least 300+ words stating your learned opinion, backed with links and photographs (if possible).

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John - Reflections on the Success of OLPC in Education

John — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:35:26 -0800

Hi - is there an English Version of the above M&E plan?

Elisha Sibale - Assistive Technology Must Address Extreme Poverty and Support Local Content

Elisha Sibale — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:40:21 -0800

I am intersted in what you are doing. I am a Social Worker. I belive by using the present technology effectively we all enjoy the outcome benefist. Thanks

Disability is Relative: Physically and Culturally

wayan — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:35:56 -0800

Today, I approach the issues of disability and accessibility in the case of education in developing countries from the perspective of someone who grew up in Morocco with a visual impairment. While I led a privileged lifestyle, which allowed me to attend a private school, the concept of accessibility and accommodation remained rather foreign to me for most of my schooling. The differences between various disabilities aren’t as nuanced as they are in the North American context.

The relative concepts of accessibility and accommodation

In Morocco, you were either blind or deaf, but not visually impaired or hard of hearing (except if you’re older and in that case, you either turn up the volume of the TV or radio and have people speak louder). From my experience, there were no in-between categories.

I was fortunate enough to attend an American international school, where the classes were small enough to get individual attention and the teacher’s approach more adaptable to its students needs. If I had gone through the French or Moroccan system, I would have drowned in the myriad of students and been forgotten by unconcerned teachers.

That’s not to say that the public system is void of caring teachers or successful students, but rather that the challenges that students with disabilities face in such impersonal settings make the student’s job more difficult.

I never thought of myself as disabled because I wasn’t raised to think of it that way. The words, “disability”, “accessibility” and “accommodation” didn’t really become a part of my vocabulary until I moved to North America. When I was diagnosed, my father, who was an ophthalmologist, asked one of his French colleagues what to do. The colleague told him to mainstream me. And that’s what they did. I was raised to think of all I could do, not what I couldn’t do.

So when I found out, at 17 that I couldn’t drive, as naive as it may sound, I was devastated. Until then, my visual limitations were my own to work around. This was different. While I probably knew on some level that it would never happen, I’d grown up looking forward to driving. Until that moment, no one had ever had that discussion with me because it wasn’t part of the language.

Accommodation and the stigma that goes with it

After moving to Canada for school, I discovered the wonders of accommodation and the stigma that goes with it. While you may think that accommodations would be a godsend, an opportunity to jump on, it took me a couple of years to feel comfortable asking for what I needed and not thinking, well, I don’t really need this or that, I can manage. Adapting to accommodations isn’t always as straightforward as you would think, especially if you’re not used to them.

My father once told me the story of a mother who came with her child for a consult. When he told her that her child had albinism, the mother became upset and never came back. The mother eventually came to her senses and did what was right for her child’s education, but the point is that cultural aspect of enabling kids and adults with disabilities to learn isn’t just about the physical access, it’s about the culture too.

When most think of disability, they think of it in terms of extremes. To be disabled is to be in a wheelchair or being unable to see light. They don’t think of the spectrum on which your impairment can reside. While the nuances of ability are better delineated in North America, they don’t always seem to be applied in technology.

It’s great to have accessible technology designed for learning, but if the accessibility options aren’t integrated on basic products, than who will use them? Never mind that much of the technology is unaffordable (even in Western terms), the cultural barriers won’t help the implementation. A magnifying glass is one thing, but when you get into electronic technology, I think that they need to have multiple uses. A CCTV can be very helpful, but who has that kind of money and who wants to be seen using one?

Also, there is no excuse for technology not having integrated adaptive features. And adaptive features doesn’t mean Text to Speech. In the U.S. for example only 12 percent of legal blind children use Braille, that’s down from 50 percent in the 1960s, the rest use the vision they have to interact with their world. It’s easy to say, “Well this product already exists, so use it”, but if you’re not an auditory learner, how much does it really help? Why aren’t there more options to change the contrast or font size on a screen?

So here’s a question, is it easier to change culture or change technology?

I’d vote for the technology because a lot of it already exists. Perhaps highly priced and restricted by IP, but changing culture requires bigger strategies that require more expertise than any one ICT4D organization can offer. Cultures differ from region to region and country to country, but the disabilities don’t. Whether you’re albino in Morocco, Canada or India, the challenges you will face will, for the most part be the same.

I’m not sure what research has shown about the varying cultural takes on disability, but I think it’s something that should be looked at.

Yasmina - Disability is Relative: Physically and Culturally

Yasmina — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:35:38 -0800

Thanks for your comment. In the case of East Africa, I was referring to challenges relating to visual acuity.

@deerwood - Disability is Relative: Physically and Culturally

@deerwood — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:18:40 -0800

What a great question ... is it easier to change culture or change technology? I'd suggest it depends which is the bigger barrier, what if a culture needs to be changed before any tech can be introduced? Much of one's approach to disabilities depends upon background and culture and in some cases maybe that culture needs to be changed. "Whether you’re albino in Morocco, Canada or India, the challenges you will face will, for the most part be the same." not, it seems, if you're an albino in east africa.

Per Busch - Assistive Technology Must Address Extreme Poverty and Support Local Content

Per Busch — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:58:19 -0800

Great article, great thoughts and arguments. Thank you. I also believe that mobile, affordability, audio and local content are important keywords. I hope that more languages will be supported by speech synthesis solutions (text-to-speech) in the future. This would allow people who cannot read to access digital content in their local language as well.

Per Busch - Hidden Opportunity: Mobile Reading Solutions for the Blind

Per Busch — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:31:41 -0800

Great article, thank you. I'd personally prefer the term "Mobile Accessibility" instead of "mDisability". Mobile technology can improve accessibility in the real world and on the web but before that mobile technology must be made accessible and affordable for people who cannot read and write first. Paul, you certainly have read my Open Letter and perhaps it is also interesting for the readers of your nice article: http://blind.wikia.com/wiki/Open_Letter_Initiativ... See also (not frequently updated): http://blind.wikia.com/wiki/User:Per_B./Mobile_Ac... Best regards, a blind advocate for affordable mobile accessibility

Assistive Technology Must Address Extreme Poverty and Support Local Content

wayan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:55:27 -0800

Children who are challenged by disability and extreme poverty face the greatest danger of being deprived of their right to education and freedom of expression. For this population, technology must not only be accessible; it must also fit within a context of severe limitations in infrastructure and income. The right solution will address the presence of numerous languages within the same region and will empower local people, disabled or otherwise, to contribute to their own knowledge and culture repository.

Lack Of Electricity And Financial Constraints

Technology that relies on access to grid electricity will not serve the poorest 1.5 billion people. Sadly, this barrier isn’t likely to be removed soon – the International Energy Agency predicts 1.3 billion people will remain without electricity for the next 20 years.

Alternative energy options are ideal, but one should proceed with caution, as the practical amortized cost will often exceed what is possible for consumer-sustained revenues or even for government education budgets. When an education ministry has USD 100 a year per student to split between teacher pay, books, furniture, and construction of running water and toilets, little remains for new educational technologies. Program designers need to thoroughly measure and disclose the total cost of ownership of any solution, particularly technology based solutions.

Mobile-based technologies have greatly impacted development; but there are three important costs to consider: 1) the cost of the handset, 2) the cost of network access, and 3) the cost of energy consumption. Smart phones have potential as education devices, but their cost is out of reach of the poorest two billion. Even basic phones may still stretch available financial resources; and if the educational value requires the mobile network, the cost of network time and even the availability of the network may reduce the feasibility. Finally, use of mobile handsets as everyday learning tools requires constant recharging, which adds cost and additional logistics.

Content

No matter how well a technology adapts to resource constraints, it has little use without good content. Good content includes a “killer app” that supports a school system’s goals (including their existing curriculum, exam requirements, and methods of teaching); but content can also mean stories, information, or knowledge that has direct practical and even entertainment value. Even if this content isn’t directly useful to schools, it may be invaluable to education.

A successful technology solution will be built from the ground up to support content. But where does the content come from? The Web will not easily reach the poorest 1.5 billion people who lack electricity. But suppose we could magically make the Web actually accessible “World Wide”– what content would be helpful?

Language

Serving the needs of disabled children in the poorest regions of the world requires content in thousands of languages. A look at Wikipedia’s article count by language demonstrates the problem. English speakers can find millions of Wikipedia articles, but very few children understand English. Meanwhile, the 8 million Twi speakers of Ghana are served by 65 articles.

What if we had a massive effort to translate English content on the Web to thousands of other languages? Would the problems, questions, and interests of children in remote rural areas be satisfied by the content on today’s Web?

Local Content: Web 2.0 Without Electricity

The solution to this problem (already learned with the Web) is to ensure technology is serving content production as much as consumption, and further, to turn consumers into producers. Examples of producers include district government agriculture experts, local nurses, concerned mothers, and disabled children with something to say (all of them).

To connect content producers with consumers, we need distribution. This presents another requirement for technology projects: affordable digital distribution. Mobile communication networks should be leveraged when available and affordable (which varies drastically across impoverished regions of the world), but the greatest scalability will be achieved using additional means of distribution, especially at the local levels.

Collaboration Is Critical

Content producers are the key. Technology can provide the tools.

But none of this is possible without collaboration among technology developers, development practitioners, funding organizations, governments, and content producers. No single NGO program can do this work, and no single product will provide a comprehensive tool.

Literacy Bridge, the organization I founded in 2007 to work on these problems, set out to design a rural audio computer based on the above principles.

The device is designed for access to audio knowledge.
At high volumes, it can be produced for less then USD 10.
It can be powered by locally available batteries.
It interactively quizzes students and provides them feedback.
It allows anyone to make a recording and share any audio recording with others using device-to-device copying. Literacy Bridge is also now working to allow audio recordings to be uploaded and downloaded to the Web using basic mobile phones and voice networks.

After a year of field observations and a growing dataset of results, we are more convinced than ever that this is the right approach towards improved access to education for all. We see our technology and our programs as a couple pieces in the puzzle; and, we continue to search for partners with other pieces and who are dedicated towards solving this puzzle.

Jim Tobias - We Need an Assistive Technology Strategy not Devices

Jim Tobias — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:16:36 -0800

Great article, and right on the money. Another option to consider is putting accessibility capabilities in the network. A school district, government, enterprise, or NGO could install these features so that users have immediate access to them wherever they are. They may also allow broader opportunities for new AT, because developers will be freed from the need to develop their own platforms from the ground up, and from most of the software distribution costs. This idea has been most comprehensively proposed in the "National Public Inclusive Infrastructure" project. Information about NPII can be found at http://npii.org/.

What We Really Need for Students with Disabilities

wayan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 05:30:01 -0800

In countries like Afghanistan (where I live) those without disabilities may not be able to access education. The needs of the deaf, blind and those with other disabilities (physical and psychological) are often neglected. For the deaf, communication between parents / teachers and children can be almost impossible and there is a severe shortage of sign language, braille and assistive expertise, never mind the resources to pay for them.

The first fundamental barrier in the developing world to overcoming disabilities is that we are missing the human capacity we rely on in other parts of the world – the support workers, interpreters, sign language teachers and others. Existing low cost technology can help substitute for this. The XO Laptop, mobile phones and others are suitable low power, low cost hardware and far lower cost than classes ($15/month > 12 months = 1 OLPC) and interpreters for those who would struggle to afford either.

What we are lacking is high quality (preferably creative commons or similarly licensed) localized content for both children and adults, such as interactive video sign language courses. Often we lack localized text to speech software. Because parents often can’t afford or can’t find the resources they need to communicate with their children they often find themselves completely excluded, and such frustration can easily foster worse problems.

Using blended learning we can make far more effective use of those limited human resources that we do have, so that classes can be supplemented by more effective self study. Some NGOs are making efforts to provide classes, but they all fall far short of what’s needed.

Here in Afghanistan, a self-instructional sign language application running on the OLPC or other hardware is envisioned that will support parents, children and teachers to learn to communicate with each other. Braille could follow. Our Persian E-Speak has a some work left to go. This will provide the lowest cost most accessible option for people Recognizing psychological disabilities for what they are will likely require cultural changes and shifts that took generations to realize in developed countries.

The hardware is there, the technology exists, with HTML5 we can make platform independent materials that can work on devices from phones to normal desktops to OLPC to PDAs. What we really need is the will, vision and resources to glue it together the content and get it out to those who need it.

Darlene Parker - We Need an Assistive Technology Strategy not Devices

Darlene Parker — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:14:34 -0800

Fernando, thank you for your timely post regarding accessibility. This is an important area which has not been a focus for organizations who are introducing ICT in developing countries. Your point considering the sustainability of continuing to use a proprietary solution when moving to the workplace is such a valid concern, which is often overlooked when accepting donated or price reduced software. Even the gov't departments responsible for training handicapped users are very limited in their strategy to help with future employability. It was very frustrating for me when presenting FOSS alternatives, along with a training program that would increase accessibility beyond the budget devouring proprietary solutions, to see the lack of planning. The largest project this particular government had underway was to have civil employees travel throughout the country to register/document the handicapped. Yet the limited computer labs were terribly under utilized. On a positive note, I have engaged with the Kenya Society for the Blind to help present Open source alternatives such as espeak, Orca, and Vinux, a customized Ubuntu for visually impaired users http://vinux.org.uk/. It is exciting to work on this project as it can be a great model for other countries as we will have an effective M&E process in place. During my testing I have been lucky to connect with developers in other countries who work with organizations such as Braille without Borders. You may find this writer to have some great insights about accessibility http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com/ On a final note, accessibility in ICT continues to be a challenge even in developed countries. The move to automated kiosks for services such as airline check-ins etc is based on touchscreen technology & there has not been a similar pace to ensure that visually impaired users have access to these services.

NVDA: A Competitive and Free Screen Reader

wayan — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:10:54 -0800

NVDA is an open source screen reader, with the ability to install on individual computers, or to run from a CD or a thumb drive. While it is over ten years behind other popular screen readers in development, in practice, the developer team is able to build on previous industry experience, as well as prioritizing the most important needs of screen reader users.

NVDA, NonVisual Desktop Access was first released in 2007. Originally it was a private initiative, but it was quickly picked up by industry as a promising alternative for screen readers. Since 2007, NVDA received tremendous recognition at international conferences and forums. Today, it is a very well-know application among screen reader users in the United States. Many people are switching from their old reader to NVDA.

Currently, NVDA is able to work with the most popular applications, such as Internet Explorer, FireFox, Microsoft Office applications, Adobe Reader, and Windows components. The developers constantly expand the supported applications and improve current support as well. One of the greatest strengths of NVDA is supporting the latest release of Mozilla Firefox. The latest technologies are used and recognized, even methods which other screen readers often struggle to catch up with.

The current biggest problem of providing blind people with screen readers is the pricing, where NVDA could become a very low cost alternative. While the software itself is free, education and distribution would require some funds for a wide distribution.

NVDA as a competitive alternative

NVDA is backed up by the generous financial support and recognition from major software and internet companies, including Mozilla Foundation, Adobe, and Yahoo! Given that NVDA meets the expectations from users and supporters, this recognition allows to predict that future support will be granted to the project, and the development will continue.

Screen readers, similar in functionality and effectiveness to NVDA are extremely high priced, around the $1000 range, which are not considered to be competitive in developing countries.

The NVDA project, is also aware that there is a high demand for an affordable screen reader to be used in the international market. Currently, NVDA supports over 20 languages, which puts it ahead of other freely available screen readers.

As NVDA is an open source product, it provides the ability to contribute code according to individual, or country specific needs, unlike other alternatives.

The NVDA project also maintains extensive support resources, where users and developers can discuss the screen reader, make suggestions and even volunteer to support the project even by financial contributions, or by program enhancements. This allows ambitious developers to implement new ideas. With the spread of this screen reader, it is expected that more contributions will be added, including the translation to other languages.

The Down-sides of NVDA

The default sound of NVDA is provided by ESpeak, which is not the best reading voice. However, users can install other voices and easily change their preferences to it. This allows the using of any third party voices, which is an easy integration of other languages.

While NVDA has an unparalleled development curve, there are still some bugs and requirements which need to be worked on, however, these do not cause major usability issues.

Implementing NVDA in Developing Countries

It is not possible to distribute NVDA to people in need on its own, as the intended recipients would not be able to use it right away. While NVDA has a talking installation program, somebody who solely relies on a screen reader needs to be able to start the operating system to install it. Also, we have to take it into consideration that much of the intended audience does not have previous screen reader experience, therefore they will have difficulties using the computer as well.

It would be recommended to start providing non-computer related training materials to intended users, both about using a computer, and the screen reader as well. The best format of such materials would be either Braille, or audio resources.

Conclusion

Overall, NVDA as a screen reader is comparable to other screen readers in usability and effectiveness. However, as it is easily adaptable to other languages and is freely distributable makes it a favorable choice in developing countries.

Tom Babinszki of Even Grounds, Accessibility Consulting, recommends NVDA

Fernando Botelho - We Need an Assistive Technology Strategy not Devices

Fernando Botelho — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:00:02 -0800

Thank you Paul. I agree that a lot of training and support is needed but I do not think this is specific to FOSS. This happens to anyone who is not first-to-market and number one in sales in wealthy economies. There are many commercial proprietary assistive technologies that are completely unknown in developing countries, just like some FOSS solutions, simply because marketing to an extremely diverse and geographically disperse community, such as persons with disabilities, is too expensive. I also agree with you regarding the need for technologies that work on a variety of devices, in particular, low-cost ones. eSpeak and Dasher are two good examples of such FOSS assistive technologies. Fernando Botelho

We Need an Assistive Technology Strategy not Devices

wayan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 05:53:47 -0800

The biggest challenge in bringing access to the digital realm to kids with disabilities in developing countries, and with it access to education and eventually employment, is the adoption of public policy and NGO strategies that are truly scalable. Traditional strategies have no chance of fundamentally changing the horrible statistics that prevail among persons with disabilities given the relatively minuscule resources available to help this community.

Right now, some initiatives run by departments of education and most initiatives run by NGOs spend some of their very limited resources on software-based assistive technologies such as screen readers or virtual keyboards that are extremely expensive. As a result, a very small minority of kids with disabilities get access to technology and then they do, they become dependent on software that they, their families, and future prospective employers cannot afford. Such an approach is just as ineffective whether one is talking about software that runs on PCs, netbooks, or cell phones since the best-known cell phone assistive technologies are extremely expensive.

Obsessed with the difficulty of bringing affordable solutions to developing countries I made a comparison in 2006 between brand-name entry-level PC prices in 2006 and in 1997, and the cost of the most widely used screen reader for the blind also between 2006 and 1997. Correcting for inflation the change was a drop of more than 80% in the price of the computer and an increase of over 20% in the cost of the screen reader (and this was before netbooks became fashionable). It became clear to me that if I was going to have any chance of increasing access to technology and education to the blind in developing countries in any meaningful way, it would have to be by focusing on software since industry was already doing an excellent job in reducing the cost of hardware.

Donations or heavily discounted proprietary software is not a solution since, as mentioned above, it simply postpones tragedy. it creates dependency that will block access to educational and employment opportunities as soon as the student needs to upgrade his or her assistive technology or install it in new machines. The solution I found is to identify free and open source software (FOSS), that until recently few people knew about, and make it easy to access, use, and share.

This gave origin to the F123org project, an initiative recently recognized with an award from the Inter-American Development Bank to install everything a blind individual needs–including operating system and office applications–on a USB drive. While I am proud of this concept, I bring it up to illustrate a point, once the building blocks such as word processor, screen reader, and speech synthesizer, are available freely for anyone to copy, modify, and improve, foundations, companies, NGOs, and individuals will find ways to use these technologies effectively. the real obstacle is not hardware costs, it is the lack of awareness of the benefits of supporting and using FOSS assistive technology solutions.

The idea of using a USB drive as a hard disk, to install and use any software one needs, is not mine alone. I have heard of others doing the same in various contexts in China, England, and Germany just to mention a few places. Good ideas are easy to come by, the real challenge is either developing or building on software such as Orca, eSpeak, Dasher, and for that matter, Open Office. Once a government, foundation, or any entity interested in helping persons with disabilities is wise enough to require that any public procurement or research funds have FOSS licenses as a requirement, the impact of any investment they make is multiplied many times over. Let us use examples such as eSpeak and Dasher to illustrate.

eSpeak is an open source speech synthesizer that was quickly adopted for use with screen readers such as Orca and other applications such as Asterisk, in platforms ranging from PCs to netbooks and cell phones, in languages ranging from Spanish to Turkish and Swahili. Dasher, a software used to make data entry more efficient for those who cannot use a conventional keyboard, was also widely adopted with an equally vast impact despite the relatively limited resources invested in its development. Today, the impact of the limited resources available to the F123org Project is also dramatically increased given our ability to use those FOSS solutions without any restriction to help people in more than seven countries.

Companies, governments, NGOs, foundations, or individuals interested in using or contributing to assistive technology that is truly decentralized, scalable, affordable, and resilient should not for the most part worry about hardware, and should focus resources on free and open source software, open communication protocols, and open file and other standards so that bringing education to hundreds of millions of kids with disabilities will be within our reach.